Personalizing My Zuk

[4xfiend]

Lame! You can't tease us with fabrication photos and then not show it working on the trails. Unacceptable!

In all seriousness, glad to hear that it's working well for you. As I said before, it looks like a neat little buggy that will be a lot of fun. Congrats!

[Tumbleweed13]

Lame! You can't tease us with fabrication photos and then not show it working on the trails. Unacceptable!

Point taken. Will get some next time. LOL

[Tumbleweed13]

Hey 4xfiend, I did take 1 pic when I 1st got there. Sorry, it's no action shot, but here it is. LOL

[4xfiend]

Thanks!

I've got to say, I'm a total Jeep guy but yours is not the first Sammy buggy I've seen that I wouldn't mind owning.

[Tumbleweed13]

Thanks!

I've got to say, I'm a total Jeep guy but yours is not the first Sammy buggy I've seen that I wouldn't mind owning.

9K and its yours. 8K with the original wheels and tires that it came with.

[Toolman]

thing scared him so bad, he's selling it after 2 trips.

[Tumbleweed13]

thing scared him so bad, he's selling it after 2 trips.

Every rig has a price. It's just get'n someone to pay it.

[Tumbleweed13]

Well, I've done a few small things to my Zuk in the past few months. Not much of it qualifies as fab work. But this thread is called Personalizing My Zuk. So, here it goes.

The biggest thing I did was rebuild the front axle. Sorry I forgot to take pictures. My axles are toyota units. A toyota axle is much different then a dana. Especially with the closed knuckle bitfield set up. That took a lot of research, and talking to toyota guys, to figure out how to rebuild the axle correctly. I was very pleased with the out come. I did some up graders when I put it back together. I did the trunion bearing eliminator kit. This converts the knuckle to a king pin style, set up. Did some seal upgrades, replaced a couple housing studs that hold the 3rd member, in place.

My 2 previous Jeeps were black on black. I got this buggy and it is all black. I decided that it was time for some color. I wasn't sure how my choice was gonna turn out. I didn't want to spend a ton of time painting, and end up not liking it. While at Pep Boys, I found the answer. Plasti-dip. If I hate how it comes out, I can peal it off. So, I sprayed my wheels red. I was very pleased with how it came out. I've been on 2 runs with them, and that stuff is holding up great.




A few days before I want on a run in early Sept, my wife pointed out how hot it was going to be, and suggested I get a top on the buggy. I agreed. My original plan was to put an aluminum roof on it. But I couldn't get that done in a couple days. Thanks to Mike, aka Toolman, on MJR, I had the canvas from a JK, sitting in my garage. Using some scissors, grommets, and paracord, I made this top in a few hours. I'm sure glad I did. It was HOT that weekend. I like it so much, I'm not gonna bother with an aluminum roof. Note, the red paracord to match the wheels. LOL.












Next on the list was my exhaust. I like to listen to music while I'm wheel'n. My exhaust was just too loud, to enjoy any tunes. My exhaust consists of a short "S" pipe off the header flange, to a glass pack, with a dump at the end. I wanted to cut off the glass pack, add about 2ft of pipe, a quieter muffler, and then a dump. Unfortunately, the muffler I bought was too big to fit in the tight area under the buggy. I was stuck, just adding the 2ft piece with the dump, behind the glass pack.
My original exhaust on the right. The new piece, on the left, and the hanger I added to support the longer tail piece. I did weld them together, so I guess that qualifies as fabbing. LOL


The finished piece. The bow in it is on purpose, to help with clearance. It is a bit quieter now. Not as harsh sounding as before.


The next thing I had to address, was a section of the frame that was being crushed by the bolts, holding my T-case mount. After each run, when I check all my hardware underneath, these bolts always needed tightening. I made a plate to help reinforce the frame. I much happier with it now.



Center hole, is for a plug weld.


All burned in.


The most recent thing I did, yesterday, was add a rearview mirror. After a few trips, I realized what a PITA it is to, not be able to see behind you. When I was at the Off Road Expo, I picked up a 17" convex mirror for $35, and a couple tabs. This mirror gives me approx. 120* of viewing.


Tabs welded in.


I made 2 drop down pieces. This lowered the mirror to a better spot. It also gave the mirror, adjustability.


All put back together, with the top back in place.

[Toolman]

Looks great Joe. The top came out super clean.

[Tumbleweed13]

Looks great Joe. The top came out super clean.

Thanks Mike.

[Lumpy Grits]

Nicely done Joe :thumbs_up
Don't see many 'square-nuts' anymore--:hide:
LG

[Tumbleweed13]

Nicely done Joe :thumbs_up
Don't see many 'square-nuts' anymore--:hide:
LG

Yeah, Those where in my jar of extra nuts and bolts. Takes the same wrench as all the other hardware, so I figured, why not. LOL

[aw12345]

Well, I've done a few small things to my Zuk in the past few months. Not much of it qualifies as fab work. But this thread is called Personalizing My Zuk. So, here it goes.

The biggest thing I did was rebuild the front axle. Sorry I forgot to take pictures. My axles are toyota units. A toyota axle is much different then a dana. Especially with the closed knuckle bitfield set up. That took a lot of research, and talking to toyota guys, to figure out how to rebuild the axle correctly. I was very pleased with the out come. I did some up graders when I put it back together. I did the trunion bearing eliminator kit. This converts the knuckle to a king pin style, set up. Did some seal upgrades, replaced a couple housing studs that hold the 3rd member, in place.

My 2 previous Jeeps were black on black. I got this buggy and it is all black. I decided that it was time for some color. I wasn't sure how my choice was gonna turn out. I didn't want to spend a ton of time painting, and end up not liking it. While at Pep Boys, I found the answer. Plasti-dip. If I hate how it comes out, I can peal it off. So, I sprayed my wheels red. I was very pleased with how it came out. I've been on 2 runs with them, and that stuff is holding up great.




A few days before I want on a run in early Sept, my wife pointed out how hot it was going to be, and suggested I get a top on the buggy. I agreed. My original plan was to put an aluminum roof on it. But I couldn't get that done in a couple days. Thanks to Mike, aka Toolman, on MJR, I had the canvas from a JK, sitting in my garage. Using some scissors, grommets, and paracord, I made this top in a few hours. I'm sure glad I did. It was HOT that weekend. I like it so much, I'm not gonna bother with an aluminum roof. Note, the red paracord to match the wheels. LOL.












Next on the list was my exhaust. I like to listen to music while I'm wheel'n. My exhaust was just too loud, to enjoy any tunes. My exhaust consists of a short "S" pipe off the header flange, to a glass pack, with a dump at the end. I wanted to cut off the glass pack, add about 2ft of pipe, a quieter muffler, and then a dump. Unfortunately, the muffler I bought was too big to fit in the tight area under the buggy. I was stuck, just adding the 2ft piece with the dump, behind the glass pack.
My original exhaust on the right. The new piece, on the left, and the hanger I added to support the longer tail piece. I did weld them together, so I guess that qualifies as fabbing. LOL


The finished piece. The bow in it is on purpose, to help with clearance. It is a bit quieter now. Not as harsh sounding as before.


The next thing I had to address, was a section of the frame that was being crushed by the bolts, holding my T-case mount. After each run, when I check all my hardware underneath, these bolts always needed tightening. I made a plate to help reinforce the frame. I much happier with it now.



Center hole, is for a plug weld.


All burned in.


The most recent thing I did, yesterday, was add a rearview mirror. After a few trips, I realized what a PITA it is to, not be able to see behind you. When I was at the Off Road Expo, I picked up a 17" convex mirror for $35, and a couple tabs. This mirror gives me approx. 120* of viewing.


Tabs welded in.


I made 2 drop down pieces. This lowered the mirror to a better spot. It also gave the mirror, adjustability.


All put back together, with the top back in place.

Joe for the fish plate for the crossmember, it woould be a good thing to make spacers for the bolts, drill the holes in the outside plate bigger so you can slip spacer tubes of the right lengt in weld them to the plate and tighten bolts. That way the frame will not crush and it will never come loose again. kinda how a TJ steering box mounts to the frame

[Tumbleweed13]

I agree Art. I did everything with scrap. I didn't have any tube around, that would have worked. If it keep crushing I will fix it, again. Fortunately my T-case is the size of a football. So, there's not a lot of strain on the xmember.

Wheel'n season is here! I can't wait to get out on the trail. If anyone is going out to JV, and you don't mind me tagging along, send me a PM. I'll go if I can.

[Tumbleweed13]

I added a few more personal toughs to the buggy. There were a couple things I wanted to do before I go to Tin Benders in a couple weeks.

1st was change out the "headlights". The rig came with a pair of HID's. one was a spot, and one was a flood. I didn't care for that configuration. I managed to get a good deal on a pair of LED floods, at the expo. Best time to buy is sunday and hour before closing. you'll save a lot of cash. . Sorry, all pics are from my cell phone.

Original lights



New lights, with a diffused lens.





The next 3 picks are No lights, Lights on, and with the amber lens cover, that comes with every light the sell. Oh, got them from Combat LED








The next thing I wanted to do was add a taillight. Last year at KOH, my buddy got pulled over, when we were driving around hammer town, at night, and got a ticket. Don't want that to happen to me.





Last thing I wanted to do, was add a measure of security. Like most buggies, there is no key. It's just a matter of, figuring out what order to flip the right switches, and its fired up. I thought a steering wheel disconnect, was a good deterrent.

Picked this up from Poly. I ordered it on tues. around 1pm, and it was at my door by noon the next day. I was impressed.



The splined sleeve, is weld-on. So, I stripped the column of everything.



I realized the buggy, doesn't need all the junk, anyway, so I ditched it.



The weld-on spline, is made to go over a 3/4" column shaft. Because my rig is a samurai, everything is smaller then the norm. I had to figure out a way to get an even 1/16" gap all the way around the shaft, and center the the spline sleeve. Otherwise wheel would not spin at the center. Eventually I figured out, to use a socket. It slid over the shaft, and filled the gap, evenly.



Finished. :beer: